A Shepherd Boy
tended his master's sheep near a dark forest not far from the village.
Soon he found life in the pasture very dull. All he could do to amuse
himself was to talk to his dog or play on his shepherd's pipe.

One day as he sat
watching the sheep and the quiet forest, and thinking what he would do
should he see a wolf, he thought of a plan to amuse himself.

His master had told
him to call for help should a wolf attack the flock, and the villagers
would drive it away. So now, though he had not seen anything that even
looked like a wolf, he ran toward the village shouting at the top of his
voice, "Wolf! Wolf!"

As he expected, the
villagers who heard the cry dropped their work and ran in great
excitement to the pasture. But when they got there they found the boy
doubled up with laughter at the trick he had played on them.

A few days later the
Shepherd Boy again shouted, "Wolf! Wolf!" Again the villagers
ran to help him, only to be laughed at again.

Then one evening as the sun was setting behind the forest and the
shadows were creeping out over the pasture, a Wolf really did spring
from the underbrush and fall upon the Sheep.

In terror the boy
ran toward the village shouting "Wolf! Wolf!" But though the villagers
heard the cry, they did not run to help him as they had before. "He
cannot fool us again," they said.

The wolf killed a
great many of the boy's sheep and then slipped away into the forest.